I often get questions about finding information on SharePoint 2010, the best places to learn and the “hows” and “whys”. It seems that many people will type in a single word or phrase into their favorite search engine…look at the first page and throw up their hands saying they can’t find anything.

It is the unfortunate state of our world with information overload and the attention spans of fleas. I also find that many people seem to assume that every post/site or page on the web is absolutely factual and they don’t know how to determine the validity of the information they are ready.

With this commentary on society out of the way, I figured i would post some “getting started” links and resources for those of you wondering how to get started.

Training

Advanced IT Pro Training – http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sharepoint/ff677987.aspxIT Professional Overview – A video that shows you some of the great new features in SharePoint 2010
Experiencing the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 User Interface – A video that provides a look at the new, improved user interface in SharePoint 2010

Getting Started Screencast Series – A series of entry-level screencasts by Microsoft SharePoint MVPs that lets you take advantage of an 11-module e-learning course

Documentation

SharePoint 2010 Book Excerpts – Book excerpts are online excerpts of published books.

SharePoint 2010 Visual How-Tos – Visual how-to articles are 10-15 pages in length and combine some of the best elements of blogs, video, and technical articles by providing a brief overview, a code sample, and a how-to video.

Microsoft offers some improvements to the list editing experience in SharePoint 2010.

What is it?

Inline editing enables you to edit individual lines in a list without having to open the edit item window or switch to the datasheet view. Inline editing is done directly on the list page. It is actually component of the view displaying the list, and isn’t on by default.

How to turn it on

Enabling inline editing is a simple process. To enable it for your current view, click the Modify View button in the Ribbon, scroll down to the section called inline editing, expand this section, and then check the box to Allow Inline Editing. Click OK to save the change to the view, and you’ve just enabled inline editing.

Using it

To use inline editing, click the small Edit icon that now appears to the left of each line in the list as you hover the mouse cursor over it. The fields in each column for the line item will become editable.

Make your changes, then click the Save icon where the edit icon was. There is also a Cancel icon to close inline editing if you want to discard your changes.

Inline editing will also work for different types of columns including Managed Metadata with type-ahead capabilities.

What is the point?

Some might question why Microsoft added this functionality. Well, for those of you that have been working with SharePoint in the user community would realize that editing properties isn’t something the user’s think as an intuitive process. Clicking through a number of screens or dialogs isn’t something they are going to do on a regular basis. Inline editing provides the user with the ability to quickly edit properties from the same screen without having to use the data sheet view (if they know how to switch views in the first place).

I have been working over the past three weeks on my SharePoint 2010 Administration skills and knowledge. All of this effort was in preparation for taking the MCIT 70-668 exam this week.

Well, I took my exam yesterday, and was very surprised at the experience. I showed up at the testing center about 30 minutes before my appointment. Of course, the doors were locked as no one had shown up yet.

A few minutes later, the doors were opened and I sat down. After showing my ID, and having the test admin boot and login to the PC, I was finally on my way. To my amazement, the test isn’t anything like I expected.

I read through the questions, carefully evaluating the choices for the answers. I purposefully didn’t wear my watch so I could focus on the test instead of the time. Not once did I look at the clock, or worry about the time.

Moving though the test, I started to appreciate the amount of review that I did. But I did realize that I was breezing through the questions faster than I thought reasonable, so I slowed my pace, reviewing each question carefully.

Moving through the test, and reaching the end…I planned no review of my answers. I’ve been burned by second-guessing my answers in the past. Finally finishing all of the questions, I went through the survey and completed my test.

I walked out of the testing room and was handed my results…perfect score!

I have been working with SharePoint 2010 for almost 18 months, and that experience, along with some prep-work enabled my successful completion of my first certification. I would also recommend CertificationTutorials as a source for practice and study guides. Yes, it costs money, but this resource was invaluable in my preparation.

I strongly advise those of you out there contemplating getting your certifications to do it. While it may be daunting, difficult to schedule, and overall a pain, it sure makes you feel good when it is over.

Now on to the SharePoint Configuration exam, 70-667, to complete my MCITP for SharePoint 2010.